Easter holidaymakers stranded after pilot is arrested for being 'too drunk to fly'

Arrest: The pilot was reportedly taken into custody
Kristyn Bradley
Tom Marshall26 March 2016

Easter holidaymakers had their plans wrecked when a pilot was arrested for being drunk shortly before take-off, according to reports.

The American Airlines flight from Detroit to Philadelphia was reportedly cancelled after the co-pilot arrived to work too drunk to fly.

Would-be passengers photographed him apparently being handcuffed on the tarmac outside the plane.

They were then left stranded at the airport after the airline axed the flight at 7am local time on Saturday.

One frustrated passenger tweeted: “When your pilot gets drunk, your flight gets cancelled, and you've been up since 2am.”

Another posted: “Pilot arrested (supposedly drunk), spring break busted #thanks #qualityhire #compensationplease.”

Officials said the pilot was taken into custody after failing a breathalyser test, according to local news site WXYZ.

American Airlines said a statement: “This is a serious matter and we are assisting local law enforcement and the Federal Aviation Administration with the investigation.

“We will handle this matter appropriately as the safety and care of our customers and employees is our highest priority. We apologise to our customers for the disruption to their travel plans.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in